Device for collecting mail-bags.



H. HOFFMANN.

DEVICE FOR GOLLECTING MAIL BAGS.

APPLIOATION rum) on 19, 1908 lnvenhor: Henw Ho? mann, bY

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

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HENRY HOFFMANN, OF Sl LOUIS, MISSOURI.

DEVICE FOR COLLECTING MAIL-BAGS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application fi led October 19, 1908.Serial No. $68,509.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

1 Be it known that I, HENRY HOFFMANN, a citizen of the United States,residing at St. Louis, Missouri, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Devices for Collecting Mail-Bags, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of aportion of a mail car provided with a mail bag collecting deviceconstructed in accordance with my invention, said view also showing amail bag supported. in operative position; Fig. 2 is an endelevationalview of the mail car and shows the device that is used forsupporting the mail bag in operative position; and Fig. 3 is an enlargedside elevational view of the mail bag receiving member and also shows amail bag in operative position to be collected by said member.

This invention relates to devices for collecting mail bags. 1 i

The main object of my invention is to provide a device for the purposedescribedthat is of simple construction, which will not damage the mailbags, and which will not injure the mail clerks in the car or any personstanding on the platform alongside of which the car travels.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the preferred form ofmyinvention, A designates a mail car provided in one end with a mail bagcompartment 1, and 2 designates a mail bag receiving member that islocated over an opening in the roof of the car, said openingcommunicating with the mail bag compartment 1. The mail bag receivingmember 2 is approximately hood-shaped and comprises two side walls and acurved top wall 3 connected to the upper edges of said side walls. Themember 2 can be arranged in two diiferent ositions for a purpose hereinafter described: and when it 1s arranged in either of its positionsportions of the lower edges of its side walls rest upon the roof of thecar, the side walls having edge ortions 4 and 5 that are disposed at anang e to each other. The member 2 is arranged between two standards 6 onthe roof of the car and its side walls are pivotally connected at 7 tosaid standards so that it can be swun into its two diiferent positions.When sai member 2 is arranged in the position shown in full lines inFigs. 1 and 3 the lower edge portions 4 of its side walls will rest uponthe roof of the lower edge portions 5 of the side walls will rest uponthe roof of the car and the other half of the curved top 3 will form therear wall of said member- Cutting devices are arranged at the oppositeends of the top wall 3 of the member 2 to sever the ropes which sustainthe mail bag in position and these cutting devices can either be formedby sharpening the end ortions of the top wall 3 which is preferab yformed of sheet metal, or they can consist of sharpened blades 8 and 9that are connected to the end portions of the top wall 3 as hereinshown.

The means for supporting the mail bags in position to be collected bythe member 2 on the mail car consists of one or more'standards 10arranged adjacent the track on which the car travels and having a pairof arms 11 that project laterally over the track, as shown in Fig. 2,said arms being provided with pulleys 12 over which ropes or cables 13pass. The cables 13 are rovided with rings 14 to which a mail bag issecured by means of ropes or other suitable devices 1.5 connected to theopposite ends of the bag, as shown in Fig. 1, thereby sustaining themail bag in an approximately horizontalposition and in alinement withthe mail bag re ceiving member 2 on the roof of the mail car. When thecar is traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow a in Fig. 1 thebag-receiving member 2 will be arranged in the osition shown in saidfigure so that the cutting device 8 thereon will sever the bag-supporting ropes 15 and permit the bag to enter the member 2 and t compartment1 in the car. When the car is traveling in the opposite direction thebagreceiving member 2 will be arranged in the position shown in dot anddash lines in Fig. 3 so that the cutting device 9 at the opposite end ofthe top wall 3 of said member will sever the bag-supporting ropes 15 andthus permit the bag to pass into the member 2 and thence into the mailbag compartment 1. I prefer to provide the inner face of the top en fallinto the mail bag wall 3 of the bag-receiving member 2 with ads 16, asshown in Figs. 2 and 8, so as to form a yielding buffer that the bagcomes in contact with when it enters the member 2. I also prefer toarrange a yielding cushion 17 inside of the mail bag compartment 1, asshown in Fig. 1, to break the fall of the bag.

In the preferred form of my invention, as herein shown, the cushion 17is formed of woven wire so that any snow, ice, water, or any otherforeign substance that enters the bag compartment 1 through thebag-receiving member 2 will pass through said cushion onto the inclinedfloor or bottom wall 18 of the mail bag compartment, said floor beingprovided with a dr'ainopening 19 which permits the substance thatcollects on said floor to drain off of same.

One of the inside walls of the mail bag compartment 1 is provided with adoor 20 that can be opened to permit the mail clerk to remove the bagsfrom said compartment. In view of the fact that the bag-receiving memberis pivotally mounted on the standards 6 it is desirable to provide somemeans for locking said member in its different positions, and in theconstruction herein shown said means consists of movable pins or bolt-s21 on the standards 6 that are adapted to be forced into cooperatingrecesses 22 in the side walls of the bag-receiving member, the

roof of the car being provided with grooves 26 for receiving the cuttingdevices 8 and?) when they are in their inoperative positions. The cables13, to which the bag-supportmg ropes 15 are tied, lead over pulleys 23on the standard 10 and are secured in any suitable manner as, forexample, by wrapping them around a cleat 24 on said standard.

To arrange a bag in position, the operator releases the cables 13 so asto permit the rings 14 on one end of same to descend. He then ties thebag-supporting ropes 15 to said rings and pulls on the cables until therings 14 thereon come into engagement with stops 25 on the arms 11through which the cables pass. The bag is now arranged in operativeposition, and when the mail car passes underneath same the cuttingdevice on the front edge of the top wall of the bag-receiving member 2will sever the bag-supporting ropes and thus permit the bag to drop intothe compartment 1 in the mail car.

WVhile I have herein shown my improved device used for collecting mailbags from a station it will, of course, be obvious that it could be usedfor receiving bags from a moving mail car, the bag being supported bysuitable standardson the roof of the car and the bag-receiving memberbeing carried by a suitable support arranged adjacent the railway track.4 v

A device of the construction above described comprises very few partsand can be manufactured at a low cost. strike the bag a blow todisengage it from its support so that it will not damage the bags asmuch as the devices which are now in general use. And, as thebag-receiving and supporting members are arranged above the top of thecar and the car is provided with a closed compartment into which thebags are discharged, the device is not apt to injure the mail clerks inthe car or a person standing on the platform adjacent the track.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A mailbag collecting device, comprising an approximately hood-shapedmember arranged above an opening in the roof of a car and having sidewalls and a curved top wall, the edges of said side walls being disposedat an angle to each other, standards on the roof of the car to which theside walls of said member are pivotally connected, cutting deviceslocated at the opposite ends of the top wall of said member, and meansfor locking said member in such a position that one of said cuttingdevices lies in a horizontal plane above the roof of the car;substantially as described.

2. A mail bag collecting device, comprising an approximately hood-shapedmember arranged above an opening in the top wall of a car andcommunicating with a bag compartment inside of the car, standards on theroof of the car to which said member is pivotally connected so that itcan be adjustedrin two different positions, and cutting devices on saidmember that are adapted to sever means that sustain a mail bag inposition; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses, this sixteenth day of October 1908.

HENRY HOFFMANN.

Witnesses:

WELLS L. CHURCH, GEORGE BAKEWELL.

It does not

